Revenge of the Slitheen
by padme's sister
Summary: Margaret the Slitheen is back yet again, and is now the PM in 3020's London. When the Dr, Rose and Jack try to stop her once again, Rose gets a bit battered and bruised. However, this will soon be the least of her problems.
1. Chapter 1

**Author Note: Hey guys, this is just a story I've had written down for ages, but never actually got round to posting. I hope you all like it, and I hope you will forgive me for irregular posting, which I have a tendancy to do, so I shall appologise now.**

**Anyways, I bet your wondering what the hell that summary meant. Well let me give you a better, more explainative version now, although you'll have to read the story to find out what actually happens.**

**How would Rose react if she was told that her cold wasn't just a cold andthat she only had 17 hours to live?And how about if her death was to be a painful and slow one?Of course, when Rose was told this by the Doctor, she didn't believe him.But what if there was truth in what hesaid?What if she did only have 17 hours, in which time she would suffer unbelievable pain?Margaret the Slitheen is back and causing havoc yet again, and she's no doubt behind Rose's condition somehow.Can the Doctor work out how to stop Rose from dying, or will he lose her forever?**

**Set Post Boomtown, Pre Bad Wolf with the 9th Doctor, Rose and Jack.**

**Oh and 1 last thing, these first few chapters are what happened in the hours before Rose was told she was dying.**

**So I hope you enjoy, and Remember, please Read and Review as always!**

oOo

"Why won't she just get the hint!" the Doctor exclaimed in annoyance as he watched a plasma screened tv in a shop window.

Rose and Jack had been watching another of the screens a little further along, which had been playing Star Wars Revenge of the Sith on a huge screen that made the characters lifesize, not to mantion 3D. Jack had been miming a duel with Rose, and both giggling madly and trying to put each other off with stupid comments or funny faces. Eventually they had both collapsed in hysterics, and the Doctor had left them to it.

But now they stopped giggling and stared at him anxiously, getting back to their feet and walking over to look at his screen with him. Their mouths dropped open simultaneously and their eyes widened in shock. If the Doctor hadn't been so involved in watching the screen, he would have found it highly amusing.

However, the screen was more important at that time, because it was showing the familiar scene just outside 10 Downing Street, as the new Prime Minister gave an announcement about needing a new personal PA. This new Prime Minister was none other than Margaret the Slitheen, back to try and take over the world- again.

"That's impossible! We only dropped her off at Raxa - Raxa - Raxacoricofallapatorius a few hours ago!" Rose seemed delighted at herself for having conquered the difficult word, and Jack gave her a pat on the back. But the Doctor shook his head.

"You forget Rose. When she turned back into an egg, it was 2005. It's now 3020. It may only seem like a few hours to us, but thats over 100 years to her. Plenty of time to grow up, revert to her old ways and try and take over once again."

"Well then we have to stop her before she succeeds," Jack added and the Doctor nodded. He turned his back on the screen and looked out over the balcony.

They were 100 storeys up the outside of a skyscraper, and down below, vehicles skimmed through the streets, hovering just above the ground using turbo boosters. The people of London had finally worked out that the only way to cram even more shops into an already packed city, was to build upwards rather than outwards, so everywhere you looked now, there were towering skyscrapers touching the clouds, and each one had its own little street on each level, with shops galore.

"The thing is though, this city's become so advanced, why would Margaret want to take over it, destroy it and sell it as fuel?" he sighed as he watched the traffic below.

"Perhaps she doesn't want to destroy the planet this time," Rose said as she joined him, although she made sure she didn't look down because the fact that only a sheet of glass stopped them from tumbling 100 storeys was making her feel dizzy.

"What do you mean?" Jack asked, still transfixed to the tv screen.

"Well think about it, yeah. Huge big city, enough electricity being created to light somewhere as big as the moon for a year. You harness that energy and there's your fuel. No destruction needed, no attention drawn to yourself, no apparent harm, therefore no logical reason to stop her."

"You know, strangely enough that makes sense. Well done Rose," the Doctor gave her a huge flashy grin and patted her on the shoulder, which made her blush. But the Doctor was already striding back towards the lifts, and Jack was still transfixed to the TV, so neither of them saw.

"Lets go show the world that logical reason!"

oOo

A few hours later, they had reached the ground again, and Rose sighed with relief as she stepped out of the elevator and felt the hard concrete under her feet. She couldn't help but look down and admire her latest purchase - a pair of brilliant white sprinting trainers, complete with the rather unusual air heels to give you that extra bounce, making you feel a little lighter on your feet.

She had only bought them because her old trainers had come unstitched at the seams from the countless times she had had to leg it from something or other, climb or do something equally as dramatic. Since she had been with the Doctor, she'd gone through more shoes than seemed possible, and she often wondered how the Doctor could afford to keep supplying her with the money needed for new ones.

However these trainers were the latest fashion, and a moving poster above the shelf in the shop had told her that a small micro-chip inserted into the tongue of the shoe could detect when the trainers needed repairing, therefore carrying out the repairs automatically. Rose had doubted this at first, but when the Doctor had scanned the trainers with the sonic screw driver, he had confirmed that there was indeed a self-repairing chip in the tongue. That had settled it and she'd grabbed two pairs off the shelf - one to wear and one as a spare set incase the first pair got wet, or needed to be washed. After all, the poster had said nothing about the trainers washing themselves.

So here she was now, walking along behind the two men with a little spring in her step, enjoying the morning sun as it appeared and dissapeared behind the huge buildings.

The feeling didn't last long though as the Doctor hailed a cab and all three of them climbed in, Jack sitting next to Rose facing forwards, and the Doctor sitting facing them on the little fold out seat opposite. He turned to speak to the driver through the holes in the glass window, gave him their destination and then turned back to the others.

"So, when we get there, I think Rose would be the best one to go in and try to talk to Margaret. After all, she don't know you as well as she knows me and Jack.You humans are all the same to her."

"Gee, thanks Doctor. You sure know how to make a girl feel special," Rose replied sarcastically, but there was a grin on her face anyway. "So how do I get this creepy bug woman to want to talk to me? Surely security's real tight? And what if she tries to kill me? Like she has done the last two times I've met her."

"Thats why you use this," he said, handing her his psychic paper. "Just think what you want it to say, and thats what anyone who reads it will see. and Don't worry about Margaret. She's already killed one PA, it would be far too suspicious if her new one dropped dead on their first day on the job."

"And what do I wantthis psychic paper to say?" she asked as she looked at the blank bit of paper.

"That you're...um...that you're her new personal assistant and you're name is Rosemerta Taylor."

"Rosmerta Taylor?" Rose repeated with a look of disgust. Up until that point she had been slowly warming to the idea of pretending to be the Prime Minister's new PA.

"How about Rosita?" Jack suggested but again Rose pulled a face.

"Ok, Rossaline?"

"Roz?"

"Rosahind?"

"Can't I just stick with Rose?" she asked as the Taxi pulled up at traffic lights.

"Too obvious. Rose Tylor, Rose Taylor, too similar. You'll think of something," the Doctor smiled encouragingly.

"Ok, so say I do actually get inside, and I get to meet Margaret and convince her not to kill me.What then?" Rose asked, changing the subject.

"Well you tell her that you'll be her new personal assistant, seeing as her old one was murdered, according to that news programme, and then ask her if you can go and get her a coffee or anything. Find someway to get away, sneak down to the back door and let us in. Then we can corner her together."

"You make it all sound so easy!" Rose laughed as they arrived a few blocks away from Number 10. Rose climbed out, bid them farewell, then set off down the street. It was only when she got a little nearer that she realised she wasn't exactly dressed as a PA.

She still had money left from her earlier shopping, so she dived into a nearbyshop and bought a hair scrunchie, a cheap but formal looking briefcase, some black stiletos, a pair of glasses which she was sure only had bits of glass as lenses and a pin-stripped suit. Then she went into a local toilet and changed as quickly as she could, drawing her hair back and tying it in a bun with the scrunchie. She jammed her old clothes and brand new trainers into the briefcase, hoping that no-one would want to check inside it.

Giving herself one last look in the dirty mirror, she decided that she looked at least more like a PA now and less like a teenager, and then left, setting on her way again.

oOo

The Doctor and Jack were sitting on a low stone wall across the street from number 10, waiting for Rose, who seemed to be taking an awfully long time. They were pretending to be tourists because the Doctor pulled out a camera and started to take pictures of the building, along with the Policeman outside. It amazed him that they still had policemen guarding the door, even 115 years later, although this police officer was dressed more like a soldier, with a rifle held in his arms, a belt of gadgets round his waist, and an ear piece attached to his left ear.

Jack had suggested that he go up to the officer and ask if he could have his photo taken with him, to add to the authenticity of their disguise, but the Doctor had reckoned the officer would more likely shoot him than agree to have his photo taken.

"Who's that?" Jack asked as the Doctor took another snap-shot of the police officer. He took his eye away from the camera and looked to where Jack was pointing. A woman with long blonde hair tied back into a bun was walking towards the door of Number 10. She was wearing a suit, and had high heeled stiletos that rung out on the cold conrete street. She was carrying a briefcase, and was fishing inside a pocket for something, which turned out to be a pair of glasses. The Doctor used his camera to zoom in, then almost dropped it as he realised who it was.

"It's Rose!" he exclaimed, handing the camera to Jack so that he could see for himself.

"Blimey!" the Captain exclaimed, holding back the urge to wolf whistle. "She scrubs up well, don't she." He looked back at the Doctor to see the dissaproving glare he was getting and quickly turned back to watch Rose as she walked up to the Police Officer and showed him the psychic paper. For a moment it seemed like he was reluctant to let her in, but eventually he nodded and knocked on the door for her. A few moments later the door opened and Rose stepped inside.

Jack and the Doctor let out a joint sigh of relief. Rose was in, now all they had to do was sneak round to the back and wait. They both knew Rose still had alot of work to do before that would happen, but they decided to set off now, just incase.


	2. Chapter 2

"How can I help you Miss?" a pompous looking butler said as Rose stepped through the door and it closed behind her, cutting out the noise of the traffic outside. Downing Street hadn't changed much since she'd last been here, so she could focus more on what she was supposed to be doing this time, and less on how amazing it was to be inside Number 10.

Rose held up the psychic paper and said "I'm Amelia Taylor, the Prime Minister's new PA.I got a fax this morning telling me that I was needed immediately, so I came straight here."

The butler looked at the paper for a moment, and Rose thought that it might not work, just like it almost hadn't fooled the police officer. But then he nodded, apparently accepting who she was. "This way then, Miss Taylor," he said, leading her up the stairs to a room that Rose knew was the Prime Minister's office. He knocked on the door, waited for a moment, then proceeded inside. Rose followed hesitantly, aware that no-one had actually said they could enter. But Margaret was in her human form, so she wasn't bothered. She looked up when she saw Rose, and there was a look of curiosity on her face.

"Thankyou Jeeves," she said, waving the butler away with her hand. _Jeeves? _Rose thought. _Such a clichè. Why are all butlers called Jeeves?_

But her thoughts were interupted when she realised that she was alone in a room with a Slitheen. Straightening herself up, she produced the psychic paper again, wondering if it would work on Slitheen's.

"I'm Amelia Taylor, Ma'am. I'm your new personal assistant," she said, mustering as much confidence as she could. Margaret stood up and walked round the desk to get a better look at Rose.

"Have we met before, Amelia?" she asked curiously, and Rose began to panick. Had Margaret recognized her?

"No ma'am. I've been at University these last few years. And before that I went to a boarding school, so I rarely got to meet anyone other than those who lived with me," she lied quickly. To her own ears, the excuse was lame and obviously fake, but to Margaret it must have seemed convincing, because she nodded, satisfied, and went to fetch something from the drawer of her desk.

"My mistake. So you'remy new PA? Well I have to say so far you've impressed me greatly. You already seem like you know more about the job than my last assistant. Poor devil never stood a chance. Iwarned him that cars wouldn't be able to see him in that black suit he always wore. I guess he found out the hard way. Still, not to worry. I have you now.Would you like me to show you to your office personally?"

"Oh yes please ma'am. That would be an honour," Rose said, trying to hide her emotions. She felt excited, but at the same time alarmed. Margaret hadn't a clue who she was! Perhaps if all went well, the Doctor would let her do this undercover stuff more often? But then Margaret also didn't seem to care about the so called 'accident' either. To Rose, se had sounded like a heartless monster.

_But that's what she is! A monster who hunts and kills for fun. What the hell am I doing here again!_

Rose was shown to a newly builtoffice next door to Margaret's. But before Margaret opened the door, she turned to Rose.

"If you would care to leave your briefcase in there, I could do with a coffee. The instant granules, not that ground bean stuff.Would you be able to go and get me one? Ask Jeeves to show you to the kitchen if you get lost. And then when you come back up, I have some business that I need to attend to in private, so if you could just knock on the door, and then leave it on that table there - " she pointed to the little table outside her door, "that would be fine."

"Of course, ma'am," Rose nodded politely, taking the key from her and unlocking the door as Margaret went back into her own office, shutting the door behind her. Rose dumped the briefcase on her new desk, admired the room for a moment, and then decided it was time to let the Doctor in. She took the psychic paper with her incase anyone should ask about them, and then headed back downstairs. After all, there was work to be done, and no time to hang around.

However, as she passed the Prime Minister's office, she saw a blue light flickering form underneath and caught a strong whiff of bad breath. She knew what that meant. Margaret was emerging from her human form, which is why she didn't want to be bothered. Rose wondered if it was just so that the Slitheen could stretch a little, or if she actually planned on killing anyone. This thought made her hurry down to the kitchen a little faster. Perhaps the Doctor would be able to stop her before she did actually kill anyone.

She bumped into Jeeves on the way, and asked him where the kitchen was, just to make it seem like she was new to the place and didn't know her way around, even though she did...sort of. Well she had been running away from a pack of Slitheen at the time and didn't exactly have a chance to memorise the route.

He showed her to the kitchen, which was surprisingly empty, and then left her to it. She hastily put the kettle on to boil, spooned a few spoonfulls of instant coffee into a cup, realised she had no idea if Margaret had sugar or milk in her coffee, then went to let the Doctor and Jack in.

The sight she was greeted with made her laugh out loud and forget about the Slitheen upstairs for a moment. There was the Doctor, trying to free Jack, who was hanging from the barbed wire round the three meter wall, his trousers caught on the little barbed hooks. She just stood there, leaning against the door frame with her arms folded as the Doctor eventually gave Jack a huge tug and his trousers ripped, freeing him from the wire and causing him to drop onto the Doctor.

Jack stood up again quickly, helped the Doctor up, then inspected the long rip in the seat of his trousers. Then he looked back up and caught Rose watching him. At least he thought it was Rose. She looked so different with glasses and her hair tied back. She'd even found some make-up in her bag which she had used to make herself seem older.

"What took you so long," the Doctor grinned as he went over to her.

"Oh you know, had to make myself look more presentable, convince two people that I'm someone I'm not, meet the new Prime Minister, convince her she hasn't met me before, make her coffee so that I'm out of the way for a while, so that she can unzip...usual stuff really," Rose replied as she stepped back out of the way to let them in.

Jack tossed her a little wink as he passed and she hit him on the shoulder, before hurrying back over to poor the coffee. She had no idea why she was still making Margaret coffee, seeing as the Doctor was here now, but she decided that if anything went wrong, at least she wouldn't seem so suspicious if she had the Prime Minister's coffee with her.

"Did you say she was unzipping?" The Doctor asked as Rose stirred the liquid then tossed the spoon in the sink.

"Yeah, as I walked past I saw the light under her door, and smelt that disgusting smell. That's probably why she wanted me to come and make her a coffee, rather than ask Jeeves to do it."

"Jeeves? Oh how original," the Doctor laughed as he followed Rose out of the door, Jack following behind, trying to pull his jacket down so that it covered the rip and muttering something about it _being the year 3020, so why the hell did they still have barbed wire? _

To Rose's relief, they didn't meet anyone on their way up to her office, so she didn't need the psychic paper. When she showed her two companions the door, the Doctor peered through the keyhole.

"Yep, she's unzipped," he confirmed as Rose dragged him and Jack into her new office. Jack was impressed at the size of the room, considering it was just an office. It had a large desk by the window, with several pen pots, paper trays, a laptop and a desk lamp. Then around the room were various decorations, a large comfy couch, a coffee table with several newspapers scattered across it, and a few official looking documents.

"Jack, you get to work on that computer. It's probably had its memory wiped since its last owner left, but see if you can find anything of interest," the Doctor decided, and Jack nodded, sitting at the desk and starting to work on the laptop.

"Rose, you come with me. You're going to play the PA role again."

"What am I going to do this time?" she whispered as they stepped out of her office.

The Doctor leaned over and whispered something in her ear.


	3. Chapter 3

**Author Note: AARGH! I forgot to add my author note to the last chapter. Stupid me!**

**Anyways, thanks so much to YamiKITG (Yes, I know I need a little more description, so, just for you, I have added a little more to this chapter, and thanks for pointing that out. Constructive critisism is always welcome), Megenta (I'm glad you're liking it so far...and this is only the beginning!) and angelic-ninja (I hope you enjoy the rest of the story too!) for your great reviews. Now, here we are with the next chapter. I hope you all enjoy!**

"Remind me why I'm doing this again? Why I can't just be your normal sidekick?"

"Because, dear sweet Rose, thats too simple. and besides, we need her to panic so that tries to get into her suit and we catch her in the act. That way the world will know that Margaret is really a dead woman with an alien inside her, and not just some hoax we've made up as a publicity stunt."

"Right, whatever," Rose sighed. It didn't make sense to her, but then most of the Doctor's plans didn't anyway.

"Prime Minister?" she called as she knocked on the door of the office. "There's a man here who demands to see you. Says his name's the Doctor and he won't go away until he's talked to you. I tried to tell him your busy and you don't want to be disturbed, but he won't listen."

"Alright Amelia, hang on a moment," came Margaret's worried voice from inside the office. It was obvious she was trying to fit back into her human skin again. The Doctor grinned at Rose, waited a few seconds then barged in. Rose waited by the door and shouted "Oi! You can't go in there, come back!" and then she followed him in too.

And there she was. Margaret the Slitheen, with half a human body wrapped round her waist.

"Ma'am, I'm so sorry!" Rose exclaimed, pretending to be shocked, even though she'd seen it before. "He...he just barged in, and..." she noticed the Doctor wink, her signal, then she turned tail and ran out of the office door. Margaret was obviously furious. She didn't know whether to stay and face the Doctor, or hunt down and kill the human who had just discovered who she really was. As it turned out, she had no choice but to face the Doctor, because Rose emerged a moment later with Jack, her hair loose and hanging over her shoulders again, the glasses gone, along with her jacket. She stood there in her fitted shirt, pinstriped trousers, and flashy new trainers.

"You! I knew I recognized you!" Margaret cried, pointing a claw at Rose, who just raised her eyebrows.

"Don't you know it's rude to point?" she replied. "Oh and by the way. My name's Rose, not 'You!' so please don't call me that anymore."

Margaret snarled angrily and made to lunge at Rose, but the Doctor jumped in her way and wrestled her furiously to the ground. He pulled out his sonic screwdriver and held it to the device round her neck, causing it to explode with a shower of sparks.

"There, now you can't go round in dead humans anymore," he said as he looked into her ugly, bug like face. She snarled, heaved him off her and started for Rose again, but Jack blocked her this time and the Doctor kicked out with one foot, catching one of her claws. It shattered and splinters flew everywhere. Jack was thrown into Rose, knocking her against the far wall. Pain shot through her shoulder and she gasped as Jack pulled himself away, horrified that he'd just hurt her.

But then Rose was on the move again, ducking and rolling to avoid the remaining claws, pulling herself up and running to the Doctor. Jack was beside them in a second, leaving the door clear for Margaret to escape.

However all three of them knew that she'd never use it, because she was still in her alien form, and it would blow her whole plan, so she turned back to the Doctor.

"Alright. You've got me. What now Doctor? Are you going to send me to my death, like you were intending to do last time?"

"Yes," came the simple reply, and Margaret laughed.

"Really Doctor. And how do you intend to get me out of this place without someone seeing me?"

"I don't. I'm going to let the world know exactly what you are, Blon Fel Fotch Passameer-Day Slitheen, so that if you ever try to take over this planet again, they'll be ready for you. Oh, and why were you trying to take over again anyway? You know that me and Rose here have stopped you twice already, so why risk it a third time?"

"Third time lucky, I guess," Margaret sighed, knowing he was right.

"Only it wasn't third time lucky, was it" Jack said. "This time you took it too far and now you've got to face the consequences."

"Shall we go then? Or are we just going to stand around here all day chatting about world domination?" Rose asked, rubbing her sore shoulder. Jack must have hit her really hard, because she could already feel a bruise forming.

oOo

Half an hour later, the Doctor had put out an emergency notice to the media, who were now eagerly crowding round outside Number 10, waiting for the big news. Rose and Jack had gathered all the staff in the main hall aswell, and now they all waited for the Doctor to bring Margaret down to expose her to the world.

After a few minutes there was still no sign of them, and Rose was getting restless. She was pacing back and forth in the hall, glancing at her watch every now and then. The brief case with her disguise sat by the front door, because she had now changed back into her old clothes, and Jack was examining the glasses she had worn.

"You were right about these Rose," he said. "They are just bits of glass, nothing special or visually enhancing about them at all. What a rip off!"

Rose couldn't stand the wait any longer. She marched back up the stairs and into Margaret's office, only to find the Slitheen and the Doctor having a drink of wine together.

"What is this, the last supper?" she snapped. "Doctor, everyone's waiting for you downstairs. If you don't hurry up, they'll all get bored and go home again."

"I know. But Margaret - or rather Blon - and I were just having one last drink together. Its tradition you know."

"Whatever," Rose sighed as she turned to the door. There was a sudden scuffle behind her, and she turned round intime to see the Doctor lying on the floor, shouting a warning to her and Margaret swinging the empty wine bottle. It caught her on the side of the head and knocked her sideways into a bookshelf. The shelves collapsed ontop of her, burying her in books and she blacked out.

oOo

Jack and everyone else downstairs in the hall had heard the struggle, and the shouts. Then Margaret had come thundering down the stairs with the Doctor right behind her.

Everyone gasped and screamed as the alien barged past and out of the door. The camera's went wild, snapping and filming as much as they could, standing their ground against the terrifying alien that had just emerged with half its body inside the skin of the Prime Minister.

The Doctor decided that she wouldn't be able to harm anyone all the time the bulbs from the cameras were flashing away, blinding her, so he turned to Jack. "Rose is hurt. Go and check that she's alright, bring her down here and wait out the back for me. I'm gonna take Margaret and go get the TARDIS."

"Right," Jack nodded, suddenly worried about Rose. How bad was she hurt. It must be serious for the Doctor to want to bring the TARDIS to her. He ran back up the stairs two at a time and crashed into the office. At first there was no sign of Rose, then he heard a groan from underneath a pile of books and began digging frantically. Finally he managed to free her and pulled her over to the sofa. She had a large purple bruise on the side of her forehead, just below the hairline. He touched it gently and she yelped in pain, her eyes snapping open and her hand flying up, ready to attack. But when she saw who it was, she relaxed.

"Margaret...she escaped...I couldn't stop her..." she groaned as she sat up straight and held her head with one hand.

"Its alright. The Doctor's got her, and he's shown her to the world. She won't be causing anymore trouble now," Jack reassured her, removing her hand slowly so that he could get a better look at the bruise.

Rose sighed with relief and stood up, leaning on Jack for support as he helped her down the stairs. Jeeves ran forwards to help too.

"Are you alright Miss?" he asked and she nodded, then cried out as pain shot through her head, starting at the point where Margaret had hit her with the bottle. She was amazed that the bottle hadn't smashed, and even more amazed that she didn't have brain damage. That had been one hell of a blow the Slitheen had given her.

When they arrived out the back, the TARDIS was already waiting for them, so Rose said farewell to Jeeves, thanked him for all his help, then climbed inside, followed by Jack. The door shut, and with a screeching, grating sound the TARDIS dissapeared, the little light on the top flashing frantically. Jeeves just shrugged and went back inside, convinced he must be going mad.


	4. Chapter 4

**Author Note: Hey guys! Thanks to piceandreamer and angelic-ninja for your reviews - its great to know you like my story and even though this chapter and the next one are a bit slow, and apparently unimportant to the whole storyline, I promise you, they are important and hopefully fun to read, so please don't give up on me yet! Give me a chance to get to the good bit? Thankyou...not that any of you would give up of course, but just incase! lol!**

**Enjoy! (oh and by the way this is my first Doctor Who fic. I usually do Star Wars ones, so this is all new for me too!)**

The TARDIS reappeared some time later in London 2005. Rose had wanted to stop off to dump a few unwanted belongings at her flat before they had travelled back to Raxacoricofallapatorius yet again with Margaret, who was now locked safely in the TARDIS's prison cell.

However, the Doctor wouldn't let Rose out of the ship until he had made sure she was completely fine. After all, Jackie Tyler was sure to notice the huge bruise on her daughter's head, and he knew he'd be the one to get the blame. He could always show Jackie the Slitheen in the cell, but that would probably only fuel her hatred of him even more, accusing him of keeping a monster in the same ship as her precious daughter, who wasn't nearly as fragile as she appeared.

He dabbed at the bruise with a cold flannel, hoping to take the swelling down a bit, and Rose wasn't complaining. It seemed that the cold moisture was easing her throbbing head.

"Why am I always the one who gets hurt," she grumbled as he continued to dab at it.

"Because thats just typical of you humans," he joked, trying to lighten the atmosphere. However, it didn't appear to do anything except anger her further, because she elbowed him hard in the side, then went back to sulking.

She was sitting in his chair with her arms folded and her legs resting on the controls in the centre of the room. She was in a terrible mood, which had obviously been made worse by her throbbing head and the fact that her Mum was at home. If her Mum had been out, the Doctor reckoned Rose would have been only too happy to go in, dump her stuff, then leave again.

But because Jackie was at home, it meant another long lecture, probably an even longer rant at her because of the bruise, and the same pleading expression that her mum always showed when she left again. Still, it had been Rose's choice to come back, not his. If he had his own way, he'd never come back to this estate again. But he knew that was just being selfish, and Rose needed her Mum. Just because he no longer had a family, didn't mean he should stop her from seeing hers.

"All done," he said, dropping the flannel onto the seat beside him and standing up. "You ready for an hour of lecturing?" he added with a sly grin, and Rose allowed a little smile to creep onto her face too.

"As I'll ever be," she replied, taking his hand and allowing him to lead her towards the door of the TARDIS.

oOo

Rose popped her head out of the doorway, saw the Chinese takeaway in front of her, the library and youth club over to one side, and realised that the time machine had come back to its favourite spot; it'd landed here before...several times actually.

She stepped out of the spaceship. On the outside it looked like a tall blue box, an old-fashioned police box. From the outside, no one would be able to imagine what was contained inside, because the TARDIS may look big, but only big enough for five or six people if they were prepared to be quite friendly, not big enough to house the enormous control room and all the other bits that formed the inside of the TARDIS. She'd come to accept it - funny how quickly you got used to even the most incredible things - but it was something that made her head hurt if she thought about the hows and whys, and at the moment, that was the last thing she needed.

There to her right was Bucknall House, and there, if she squinted upwards, was number 48. Home. Or was it? She turned back to the blue box. Well no one said you couldn't have more than one home.

Rose still had her key, attached to the same keyring as her TARDIS key, but as the three of them climbed up the concrete steps towards the flat she wondered if she should really use it. Key out of her pocket, look at it, put it back again, take it out again, look at it...it wasn't as if her mum was expecting her.

She hesitated for a moment on the walkway outside the front door, key in her hand. Then she knocked on the door.

After a moment it opened on the chain, which Rose realised was because her mum had probably seen the news with Margaret and wasn't prepared to take any chances. After all, she had encountered a slitheen first hand herself and knew how deadly they could be. But then when Jackie saw who it was, the chain came off immediately, and the door had barely swung open when Jackie had her arms round Rose. "You're here! You're here!"

Rose grinned as she hugged her mum back. "Yeah, looks like it."

Jackie looked at her accusingly as she came out of the embrace. "But don't tell me, you're not stopping."

"Sorry Mum, urgent business on Raxacoricofallapatorius."

"I'm not even gonna ask," Jackie replied raising her eyebrows at the nonsense that had just spilled from her daughter's mouth. After all, it may make sense to Rose, but to Jackie it was just another unpronouncable alien word.

Then she peered over Rose's shoulder. "Come on, where's His Lordship then? Doesn't he want a cup of tea?"

The Doctor appeared in the doorway, grinning. "Just waiting to be asked in."

"He needs to be asked in as much as a fish needs a bycicle!" Rose retorted.

"Hey, fish are very intelligent creatures," the Doctor protested as he and Jack walked into the living room. "I taught one to ride a bycicle once."

Jackie looked as if she believed him for a moment, then saw the stupid grin he was giving her and sighed in exasperation.

"Shall we have that cup of tea then?" Rose asked, steering her Mum towards the kitchen before she could start laying into the Doctor again.

Jack sat down on the sofa beside the Doctor and marvelled at how trivial it all seemed. Here was Rose inviting them to make themselves at home, which the Doctor was more than happy to do, while Rose diverted Jackie to the kitchen, which seemed to be the norm, because he could hear their voices from the kitchen. Jackie was asking Rose why she always ended up making tea whenever the Doctor popped round, and Rose was busy telling her that it was only polite and that she wished she'd stop complaining everytime they did.

Jack looked at the Doctor and saw him flicking thorugh one of the magazines on the coffee table, mumbling about how models these days were nothing like they used to be. Then he picked up a pack of playing cards and fanned them out, shuffled them, and then tried to do some fancy trick with them, which only ended up with him throwing them all over the room.

"You'de better pick those up, mister!" came Jackie's angry voice from the kitchen, and it seemed that the card incident was another of the Doctor's usual antics that he got up to everytime he visited, because Jackie hadn't even seen him throw them everywhere. Perhaps the Tylers and the Doctor had just got into a routine, that played out exactly the same each time they were all together. He suddenly felt all alone in this happy...well perhaps not happy, but at least **_almost_** normal family.

Then Rose and Jackie came back in holding two mugs of tea each. Rose handed one to the Doctor and kept the other one for herself whilst Jackie handed one to Jack, eying him suspiciously.

"And who are you?" she asked at last.

"I'm Captain Jack Harkness, ma'am. I'm a friend of the Doctor and Rose and I'm travelling with them for a while. You know, make sure they don't get into any mischief," he replied politely.

"Oh, right...well **_Captain_**,perhaps you can explain how my daughter got that hideous bruise on her forehead then. You can't be looking after her that well if you let her get that!"

"Leave him alone Mum!" Rose sighed. "It wasn't his fault."

"Then how did you get it?" Jackie demanded. Just then the Doctor got up and wandered out of the room. "Don't mind us!" Jackie called after him. "Make yourself at home!"

"I will, ta," the Doctors voice came back from somewhere in the hall.

Rose rolled her eyes then turned back to Jackie. "Like I said, it weren't his fault. You saw the news right? With the Slitheen Prime Minister?" Jackie nodded. "Well she hit me with a bottle while trying to escape. It was my fault. I wasn't paying attention."

"She did what? An alien attacked my daughter!" Jackie screeched, and Jack jumped, almost spilling the boiling contents of his mug down himself.

"It's not the first time I've been attacked by aliens mum! And it won't be the last either!" Rose responded, slamming her mug down on the coffee table so that the tea lapped over the side and spilled over one of the magazines. Jack, however, was the only one who seemed to notice, because Jackie and Rose were now busy arguing over how dangerous travelling with the Doctor was.

"And besides, we've got Jack now!" Rose finished and Jackie turned to glare at Jack, who made a point of drinking his tea, despite the fact that it was still hot and burned his throat so much it brough a tear to his eye.

Just then the Doctor wandered back in, hands behind his back. He glanced casually at the three faces that had turned to him. Then he turned to Rose. "Rose, you said you wanted to dump some of your unwanted stuff right?"

"Yeah," Rose replied, taken back by his question.

"Well how could you dump something as adorable as this?" he grinned and pulled his hands from his back. He was holding something blue and furry. "I mean he's just begging to be taken along, isn't he."

Rose jumped to her feet and grabbed the furry object. "Mr Tedopoulos! I must have put you in the bag by mistake!" Then she thought for a second, and used the bear to whack the Doctor across the chest. "You went in my Bedroom!"


	5. Chapter 5

**Author Note: Ok, fair point YamiKITG...I guess I should have mentioned the fact that I had actually used little extracts from the Doctor Who books...so I'll mention it now.**

**Over the course of the next few chapters, I have occasionally used little extracts from the books, or the tv shows, just to keep you guys interested...or because I couldn't think of how to write it differently. No copyright infringements or anything was intended, and I'm sorry for not pointing this out before. I do not take any credit for those little bits, and they remain the property and ideas of the authors of those books and the writters of the shows. But the rest is purely my own work, and thanks Yami for bringing this to my attention. If any of you can see any other similar things that I have failed to mention, because I haven't realised, then please tell me. Your thoughts will be warmly welcomed as always.**

**Now, on with the story, and I hope you guys enjoy it, despite this new information that I have just given you!**

Despite the fact that she had been yawning ever since their arrival and could barely keep awake, Rose had refused to go to bed until gone 9:30pm, when the TARDIS was safely in space again. By that time, however, she could barely keep her eyes open and had finally let Jack carry her to her room, seeing as she couldn't even stand up either.

As he layed her on the bed, he saw that she had just dropped off to sleep, so he smiled, kissed her gently on the forehead and then left her, fully clothed. He'd even left her trainers on, because after all, it had taken the Doctor and him a good two hours to convince her that she needed sleep. If he woke her up now, by removing her trainers, she'd either hit the roof and be in a foul mood for the next few weeks, or she'd never get back to sleep again.

He went back to join the Doctor at the controls. "Asleep before her head even hit the pillow," he reported with a smile and the Doctor nodded gratefully.

"Now all we have to do is hope that she stays there. She hates admitting that she's tired, and if she had her own way, she'd keep going until she collapsed with exhaustion."

"Thats the good thing about Rose. She's determined and stubborn. She'd make a good Time Lord, huh Doc?"

"No," came the short reply, but Jack realised the Doctor hadn't been talking to him. He had been talking to the TV screen he'd been watching.

"Whats up Doc? Hey, I sound like Bugs Bunny!" Jack began chuckling at his own joke, but the Doctor wasn't listening. He was scanning the screen frantically.

"No! No! No! She can't have! It's impossible!"

"What?" Jack asked again, moving over to look at the screen with the Doctor. "I don't see anything."

"Exactly!" the Doctor replied. "That's Margaret's cell, down in the TARDIS prison. She's gone!"

"Oh great!" Jack replied worriedly. "So she's roaming freely around London in 2005, still in her alien form. Not good!"

The Doctor leaped onto the TARDIS console, flattening himself across it and jabbing at a panel on the opposite side. "No, reverse, reverse!" he shouted at it. "No..." He shot an anxious glance over at Jack, then pressed about seventeen buttons at once, using fingers, feet, whatever he could. If Jack hadn't been so anxious he would have clapped at that.

The TARDIS gave an almighty shudder - even by its normal standards, Jack thought as he was thrown to the floor. He saw something pink and black streak past and realised it was Rose, running over to join the Doctor.

"What's happening?" she cried, grabbing onto the rail and holding on as the huge, ancient machinery somewhere deep inside the TARDIS shrieked in agony. Then it gave one last resentful wail, as if it was shouting at the Doctor, _How dare you do this to me! _and then the column settled with a deep rumble.

Rose lifted her head, brushed the hair out of her eyes and let go of the rail. She gazed up to see the Doctor stroking the console. "I am so sorry," he whispered to it soothingly.

"Don't I get a bit of attention?" she said, hauling herself up off the floor, using the rail.

The Doctor leaped down from the console and stroked her arm. "You're gonna be all right," he said in the same cooing tone of voice.

Rose pulled her arm away. "No. Save it for your dashboard," she grinned.

"I'll have a bit if there's any going," Jack called. He did a cartwheel and sat up smiling. "Crash test training. A perfect fall."

"Then you don't need it," Rose replied. Then she looked at the Doctor. "So what happened?"

"Minor set back. Nothing to worry about. You go back to bed and I'll call you if anything happens, alright?"

"Fine," Rose sighed. She wasn't convinced, but she was too tired to argue anyway. So she traipsed off back to her room, and as soon as her door closed, Jack turned to the Doctor. "You didn't tell her about Margaret."

"Nor did you. For the same reason, I imagine."

"She would have worried, wanted to help. And she's in no fit state to do that at the moment," Jack replied, and the Doctor nodded to show that that had been his reason too.

"So, back where we started...now where would a dirty great alien hide round here?" The Doctor wondered as he walked over to the door. Jack hesitated for a moment, then bounded after him.

oOo

"I've looked everywhere. No sign of her, and no-one's seen anything," Jack reported as he met up with the Doctor an hour later.

"Same," the Doctor sighed. Then his defeated look turned into one of deep concern and sudden alarm.

"What?" Jack asked worriedly. He had seen that look before, right before the Doctor revealed something bad.

"Suppose Margaret never did leave the TARDIS after all? Suppose she was just hoping we'de fall for the trick so that she could use it to take her home...we've left Rose to look after the TARDIS, but if she's asleep then that won't stop Margaret!"

"Oh hell!" Jack cried as he and the Doctor legged it back towards the TARDIS. To their surprise, the TARDIS was still where they had left it, nothing had moved or been disturbed.

"Something's not right, I can feel it," Jack mumbled as he followed the Doctor back inside. "I'm going to check on Rose."

"I'll come too," the Doctor said, and he gave Jack that same look that he had first given him when he had stepped into the TARDIS and Rose and the Doctor had been dancing. It was a look that said everything. It was a look that said 'She's mine."

**A/N: Ok 1 more thing, thanks for all your reviews, they are really great to read! (Have I already said that? Oh well I'll say it again anyway!)**


	6. Chapter 6

They raced along the many corridors, and as they neared Rose's room, they caught a stinking whiff of bad breath, which could only mean one thing.

And sure enough, there was Margaret, or rather Blon, standing over Rose's bed, clutching Mr Tedopoulos delicately in her undamaged claws. She was just standing there, watching Rose, which the Doctor found both curious and alarming. He wanted to shout, but that would only wake Rose, and then there would be real trouble.

"Blon!" he hissed from the doorway. "Get away from her! Leave her alone!"

"But I'm not doing her any harm. I'm just watching her," Blon cooed softly.

"Slitheen don't just watch people sleep! They usually kill them, or something equally as nasty!"

"Well perhaps I've changed Doctor..." Blon said as she started back for the door, so as not to wake Rose - Mr Tedopoulos still clutched in her huge claws.

"Oh don't think you're going to convince me to give you another chance!" the Doctor snapped as soon as Rose's door was closed behind them and they were out in the corridor. "I gave you another chance, and you blew it!"

"Oh please Doctor...please spare me! I never meant to hurt her in the office either. If I can get her to see my point of view and forgive me by the time we reach Raxacoricofallapatorius, will you spare me? Take me to my family instead?" Blon pleaded. She'd given up begging for her life after her failed attempts last time, but now Rose had given her a strange new hope.

The Doctor knew that this was just Blon's way of cheating death again, but then he also knew how stubborn and unforgiving Rose could be too. He had a sudden flashback to the time he and Rose had visited the 1800's and met creatures called the Gelths. Rose had certainly let rip at the undertaker called Mr Sneed then.

_They were in a comfortable, wood-panelled parlor, and Rose was in a fine temper. She held a walking stick in her hand and was going right at Mr Sneed who was cowering in a chair. The Doctor stood by the fireplace, happy to just watch, Charles Dickens stood back, unwilling to join in and Gwyneth the maid was meekly handing round tea._

_"First of all you drug me, then you kidnap me - and don't think I didn't feel your hands having a quick wander, you dirty old man -" Rose was ranting at him._

_"I won't be spoken to like this," Sneed tried to protest, but his complaints fell on deaf ears as Rose continued._

_"And then you stack me in a room full of Zombies! And if that isn't enough, you swan off and leave me to die! So come on! Talk!_

_That had certainly done the trick, and after that, Sneed had spilled everything._

At last he decided that as long as no harm came to Rose, then he didn't see any reason why Blon shouldn't try and earn her freedom. It didn't mean he actually had to grant her freedom, but if she was willing to work for it, perhaps he could put her to good use.

"Alright. On your own head, be it! But you wait until she's awake, you hear! I don't want you going and waking her up again after she's only just gone back to sleep. She needs her rest!"

"Oh thankyou Doctor, thankyou! You won't regret this, I promise you!" Blon exclaimed in delight, and if the Doctor hadn't pulled his hand out of her way, he suspected she would have kissed it.

"Now, give Rose her bear back and go back to your cell. There's a good little monster. I'll send Rose down when she wakes up," The Doctor said, and he was his usual bubbly self again.

"Of course, Doctor," Blon agreed willingly as she handed the bear back to the Doctor and allowed Jack to lead her away. As he did so, Jack gave the Doctor a look that said _I hope you know what you're doing! _

"So do I," the Doctor muttered as he took Rose's bear and set it gently on her pillow beside her. "Night Rose," he whispered as he backed out of the door again.

Rose just stirred a little, mumbled something and then buried her head in her pillow, hugging her bear to her as she did. It was at times like this that the Doctor realised how Rose was still just a child at heart.

oOo

Jack was in his room later, pulling off his boots. He let out a sigh of relief as his feet came free of the restrictive leather. He'd been wearing them all day and now his feet felt hot, swollen and sweaty. After letting them air a bit by taking off his socks and letting his feet dangle over the side of his bed, he decided he'd better go and grab the bathroom before the Doctor did, because the Doctor could spend hours at a time in there, doing God-knows-what.

However, as he came to the door he saw that there was a light on and the rays were shining under the door.

_Typical! _Jack thought. He glanced at his watch. Midnight. Well, it was either wait up for the Doctor to finish, or go and find one of the other bathrooms, which could take just as long to find as if he waited for the Doctor to finish.

At last he decided on the second choice, but then as he turned to go, he heard something that made him freeze. It was a wretching, gagging sound, as though someone were being sick. He pressed his ear to the door to find out who it was. It was a female...

"Rose? You alright?" he called through the door. There was silence for a moment, then there was the flush of the toilet, and the sound of running water.

"Rose? I said, are you alright?" he called again after there was still no answer. He was just getting ready to knock the door down when it opened to reveal Rose, looking seriously pale and unwell. Her face was wet, and over her shoulder, Jack could see water draining out of the sink. The shadows round her face were intensified by the poor lighting and her pale skin, making her look almost ghost-like.

"I'm fine Jack, honestly," she said with a forced smile that didn't convince him one bit.

"No your not. You're ill."

"I'm not. Look, I probably just ate something dodgy at Mum's. She never checks the dates on anything."

"Could it have been that packet of jaffa cakes you and the Doctor scoffed? I told you that if you ate the whole pack right after those three eclairs, and that victoria sponge it'd make you sick!"

This time Rose's grin was genuine. "Yeah. Serves me right, I s'pose. Shows I should listen to you more often then, don't it!"

"Well if you're sure your alright?" Jack was suddenly serious again, but he could see the colour slowly returning to Rose's cheeks.

"Yeah, I feel much better now. A good nights sleep and I should be back to normal," Rose assured him, resting a hand on his shoulder. He could feel the warmth flowing through her fingers, despite how icy cold her skin felt, so in the end he decided that there couldn't be much wrong with her. And after all, Rose wasn't one to keep something like that from them. If she was unwell, she'd usually be seeking their sympathy by making out she was ten times worse than she already was...or was that the Doctor? Either way, she never hid her feelings from them.

"Well, do you want me to take you back to your room?" he offered, but Rose shook her head.

"Honestly Jack, you're as bad as my mother! Fussing over nothing! I'm fine! It's not like I'm gonna keel over and die!" she grinned again and gave him a light kiss on the cheek. "Night Jack."

"Night Rose," Jack said in a kind of daze, as he raised two fingers to touch the spot where she had kissed him. Rose felt rather pleased with herself as she went back to her room. Her little distraction had caused him to forget about how she was feeling, allowing her to escape before he could ask any more.

"Oh," she turned on the spot to face him, a huge grin across her face again. "Next time I'm in there, don't you dare think about breaking that door down! Otherwise you'll get a slap!" She said it light heartedly, but Jack couldn't help feeling a little ashamed. What if he had broken down the door. That would have been so embarrasing!

Rose went back to her room and gently shut the door behind her, then sighed and flopped on her bed. She had to admit that she wasn't feeling better, despite what she'd told Jack. Infact she was feeling worse. But then she didn't want to worry the Doctor. It was just a cold that she'd picked up from spending too long in the snow. Nothing for him to worry about. He'd tell her she was just being silly.

Realising she was still fully dressed, she pulled her night clothes from under her pillow, dumped her old clothes at the bottom of her bed and snuggled back down under the warm covers. Before she drifted off to sleep again, she coudln't help wondering why there was a funny smell lingering in her room.

Down at the bottom of her bed, her trainers flashed a dull blue as they repaired the minor rip in the lining. At the same time, the same dull light flickered across the duvet that the trainers were sitting on and surrounded Rose's whole body for a moment, before dying down into darkness again.


	7. Chapter 7

**Author Note: ARGH! I keep forgetting to add an Author Note to thanks you guys for all your reviews. Hopefully now that I've got all my mistakes out of the way, and now that its getting onto the most important bit, you'll like it even more! So keep those reviews coming, thankyou and goodnight!**

**Oh and here's the next chapter too!**

Rose didn't sleep much after that. She rose often from her bed and paced all about her room, her headache returning now and then in short, painful intervals. Eventually she wandered down to the kitchen to get a drink, alone with her thoughts - or so she believed.

"Hello," came a voice from the dark, and as soon as Rose got over the initial shock, she recognized the speaker. She turned the light on to see the Doctor sitting at the table, with his own glass of water.

"You can't sleep?" he asked gently, pulling out a chair for her to sit on too.

"No. I have too many things on my mind, I guess," she sighed as he got up and poured another glass for her.

"Are you worried about your Mum and Mikey?" he asked sympathetically as he handed it to her and sat down again.

"No. For once, they're the last things on my mind. Its just, all this business with Margaret...and...well I think Jack was right about us eating all that stuff at my Mum's."

"Yeah...its given me terrible indegestion," the Doctor winced, holding his stomach and Rose grinned. She took a sip of the water, and to her surprise it felt icy cold as it slid down her throat. She dipped a finger into it, but it felt like normal tap water. She took another sip, and again it was icy cold.

Her surprise must have shown on her face because the Doctor grinned. "The TARIDS thought ice cold water might help your head. How is it by the way?"

"It comes and goes," Rose admitted. "Although its not as bad as it was."

"You want something for it? I might have some aspirin somewhere? A little present your Mum gave me when you were showing Jack something."

"Well, that was nice of her," Rose said in surprise. She couldn't imagine Jackie being so generous, but the Doctor was already on his feet, turning out one of the cupboards over the sink.

Not only was the TARDIS bigger on the inside, but so was all it's cupboards. Rose had found that out when she'd played hide and seek with Jack the other day.

She'd run into the kitchen and decided that the cupboards were her only option, so she'd been prepared to squeeze herself in, but found that that hadn't been necessary because there had been pleanty of room. Enough for three people to fit comfortably inside, and still have room to move about too. The Doctor had found her a while later and after giving her a lecture about the kitchen not being a play area, had climbed in with her, and they'd had their own little picnic whilst Jack had run about the TARDIS looking for her...

The Doctor couldn't help but smile at that memory as he hunted now. He heard a thud behind him, and rolled his eyes. Rose must have knocked the magazines off the table again. She had a habit of doing that when she was angry or annoyed. Infact, you could garuantee that if something wound her up, the magazines would shoot across the kitchen in a flurry of pages, thanks to one angry swing of her arm.

"You can pick those up!" he said without turning round. He waited for her usual snappy reply, but when none came, he turned to look at her.

"ROSE!" he cried, dropping down beside her still form. She was lying on the floor, out cold, and when he lifted up her eyelids, her eyes were unfocused, but her pulse was normal, and she was breathing ok. However, she was shivering like mad and he couldn't think why. At first he thought she was faking it and the shivers were actually her attempts to stop herself from laughing. He took her glass of water from the table. "If she's faking this, she's gonna kill me!" he groaned before throwing it over her face. However, Rose didn't stir, and the Doctor quickly ruled out that she was faking.

"Rose, come on, wake up. Come on," he called gently as he lifted her head into his lap to get her a little more comfortable. He slapped her cheek gently and to his relief she groaned and her eyes flickered open. She looked confused at first as she looked up at him, then suddenly realised she was on the floor, scrambled to her feet, grabbed her head in pain and collapsed into her chair, groaning.

"You alright?" the Doctor asked anxiously as he crouched infront of her.

"Yeah. I don't know what came over me. I... Why am I all wet?" she took her hands away from her head and looked at him, frowning. Then she noticed the empty glass in his hand.

"Oh please tell me you didn't," she groaned, knowing full well he had.

"Sorry. I thought you were faking," he appologised, setting the glass on the table. "So what happened?"

"I don't know. The headache came back, and it was really painful...the next thing I know, everything's going dark, and then I wake up on the floor with your goofy face peering over me."

"Hey, I know my ears are a bit on the large side, but there's no need to be mean!" he joked. She allowed herself to smile a little, and relaxed as the headache went away slowly.

"I'm gonna go back to bed," she said at last.

"Good idea. You need to rest. I don't know whats wrong with you Rose, but you're not yourself."

"Thanks. That makes me feel so much better," she snapped, getting to her feet. The Doctor took her hand and led her back to her room.

However, halfway along the corridor, he felt a jerk on his hand. Looking round, he was alarmed to see Rose's knees buckle. She toppled to the floor again, her eyes rolling back inside her head, before closing. And there she lay, out cold again.

"Oh this isn't natural!" the Doctor murmered as he scooped her up gently and carried her back to her room. "What's up with you Rose. Why won't you tell me what's going on."

He layed her on her bed and sat with her until she woke again at least ten minutes later. Now he was deeply concerned. In the space of twenty minutes she had fainted twice. This was no ordinary cold that she had, and he was determined to find out the cause to her illness as soon as he could.

As soon as he was convinced that she was going to be alright, and that she was safely asleep again, he went down to the medical ward and started gathering several pieces of equipment onto a trolley. He was determined to find out what was wrong with Rose, no matter how much she'd protest that she was fine. However, he hoped that her recent blackouts would convince her to at least admit something was wrong, and hopefully get her to stay in her bed and rest.

How wrong he was!


	8. Chapter 8

Rose needed a drink. She was still thirsty, because the Doctor had whisked her back off to bed before she could drink her glass. Infact, even if he hadn't taken her back to bed, she'd still have been thirsty, because she was now wearing her previous drink, and had no spare night wear to change into. The wet material clung to her neck, and her hair hung limply over her shoulders, making her look bedragled and rather like she'd taken a night time dip.

As she wandered down a corridor, she wondered what time it was now. She'd slept for a little while after going back to bed, but her thirst had eventually woken her up again.

She lifted her right arm to glance at her watch...or at least tried to. But no matter how hard she strained and tried, she couldn't move her arm at all. Frowning, she pinched it sharply, expecting to feel pain. But she felt nothing. Infact, she couldn't feel her arm at all. She lifted her right hand up with her left and examined it. It felt cold, and was a pale blue. When she let it go, it just flopped back by her side again, like she had no control over it.

"Oh you've got to be joking," she muttered as she realised that the bruise Jack had given her, must have been far more severe than she'd first thought. By this time she'd reached the kitchen, because her legs had unconsciously continued on and carried her there without her even realising. She sat in the same chair she'd sat in earlier, and began pulling down the neck of her shirt so that she could examine her shoulder. There was the bruise, and there, right in the centre was a tiny little cut. Rose grabbed a magnifying glass off the table, not even caring why it had been put there in the first place.

She examined the pin prick even closer and saw a tiny little spike, only about a milllimetre long poking out of the wound, too small for the normal eye to see. She reached out and grabbed a pair of tweezers which had also suddenly appeared from somewhere. But again, Rose didn't notice.

Rose picked at the splinter, and carefully removed it, setting it on a bit of paper on the table. It was odd, like a tiny fragment of bone. Panick shot through Rose as she suddenly imagined the bones in her shoulder shattering under Jack's weight, and then her picking them out one by one with the tweezers until there was nothing left in her arm. She shook her head as though reminding herself that it was just a figment of her wild imagination, and then she looked at the wound again. It was tiny, and there was just a tiny drop of blood appearing. Rose took a tissue from the box on the table and dabbed at the blood until it was gone, which didn't take very long. Then she looked at the tissue. Something was wrong with her, she could tell that from the colour of the blood.

Perhaps she'd better tell the Doctor now, rather than convince herself that it was nothing, because after all, this wasn't nothing. She could see that now.

She stood up and looked at the table, then frowned again as she realised that the magnifying glass, tweezers, paper and tissues hadn't been there when she'd sat down. She looked at the TARDIS walls and smiled. Now she knew why the Doctor loved his ship so much.

"Thanks," she whispered, stroking one of the coral-like columns that rose out of the floor beside her. Then she thought for a moment.

"I don't suppose you could help me find the Doctor?" she asked, wondering if the TARDIS would actually be able to do that, or if she was now just being silly.

But to her surprise, the door of the kitchen opened, and the corridor lit up. Rose walked down it until she came to a junction. The corridors straight on, and to her left were pitch black, but the corridor to her right was lit up, so she chose that one. At the next junction, the left was lit up, so she took that one, and followed the lit corridors right up to a dark, wooden door. She knocked twice, then entered to find the Doctor swamped in books, leafing through one rather ancient looking one.

"Thanks," Rose muttered to the TARDIS again, before crossing the room to join the Doctor and break her news.

oOo

"So Jack fell against you, and you assumed he had caused the pain?" The Doctor asked as he aimed the sonic screwdriver at Rose's shoulder. She felt a warm tingle from the laser which she found amazing considering her right, arm, from about her collar bone down, was now completely paralysed.

"Yeah. I didn't think anything else of it at the time. Mind you I did have other things to worry about."

The Doctor gave a slight smile and brushed away a few strands of her hair to reveal the bruise. It was half the size now, and not nearly as colourful, although according to Rose it had been every colour under the sun.

"Well this is no ordinary bruise," he said, turning his attention back to her shoulder.

"I know. I found a splinter in it," she said, revealing the tissue with the tiny dots of blood and the splinter wrapped inside it. The Doctor took the splinter and ran it under the sonic-screwdriver.

"Looks like a bit of Blon's claw. I'll have to test it to be positive though. Wait here." And with that he closed the huge book with a thump, took the splinter and darted out of the room, leaving Rose swamped in the pile of books.

She decided that she'd look at one of the books while she waited, so she pulled the nearest one to her and opened the front cover.

_How to cure hangovers in three easy steps, by B.A. D'Wolf._

"Perfect!" she exclaimed. She was awful at handling hangovers, so perhaps this book could teach her how to at least not make a fool of herself the day after.

As she began reading, the picture became a blur. She squinted her eyes shut, then opened them again and found that it was back to normal.

_I'm just tired _she told herself. She went back to reading, but as she did, the text became smaller and much harder to read. She moved closer to the page and found that the words were starting to blur and run into each other.

"I really need to sleep!" she muttered, rubbing her eyes. She stood up, tucked the book under her arm and started heading back to her room to catch up on some sleep. As she came into the control room, she caught sight of Jack. He came running over when he saw her and placed his hands on her shoulders, looking right into her eyes.

"Rose, are you alright? You look a little faint."

"Would both of you please stand still," she groaned, then realised what she'd said. "Oh no."

And then she fell unconscious into Jack's arms. He scooped her up and carried her over to the Doctor's chair, where he gently set her down then called for the Doctor.

The Doctor came running when he realised that Jack needed him urgently, and when he saw Rose his eyes flew wide in panick.

"What happened?" he asked as he crouched down beside Rose.

"I don't know. She looked a little unsteady as she came back from the library, and then she just passed out in my arms. There's something seriously not right with her."

"I know. But what?"

Just then Rose mumbled something and opened her eyes again. She looked up at them for a moment then groaned. "Don't tell me I did it again?"

"Yep. How are you feeling?" the Doctor asked as he felt her forehead.

"Tired...weak...like I just want to sleep," she replied, trying to stand up. But her legs had turned to jelly and she just collapsed into Jack's arms again.

"Whoa, steady," he cried as he helped her back up. As he sat her back down in the seat, his watch caught her arm and made a slight scratch on her skin.

A blue light surrounded her for a moment, the scratch healed and she stared at them in shock.

"What the hell just happened?" she asked after a long silence.

The Doctor looked at her trainers thoughfully.

"Give me a trainer," he said, and although she had no idea why he wanted it, she took one of them off and handed it to him.

He pulled out a little pocket knife and cut the lining of the trainer.

"Hey!" Rose protested, but he held up his hand to silence her. Then they all watched as the same blue light surrounded the trainer and repaired the lining. At last, it all made sense to the Doctor now.

"That splinter you found in your shoulder was actually part of a toxic dart," he said as he handed her back her trainer.

"But...but I thought the poison was supposed to kill you within five hours or something. It's now been about fifteen hasn't it?"

"Yes, thats what puzzled me too. But Jack's just provided us with the answer."

"I have?" Jack asked, although he did look a little chuffed with himself.

"Yes. The trainers. You've worn them so much you've effectively become part of the circuit. So whenever you get hurt, they work to fix you aswell, like they did when Jack scratched you."

"So, they're like the nano-thingies in Jack's ship?" Rose asked, suddenly imagining herself turning into one of the zombie gas mask people.

"Not quite, but sort of. They're more controled and much safer than the nanogenes.Now obviously, they're not strong enough to heal the poison, but they are strong enough to slow down it's effects."

"Great, I suppose you're going to tell me the trainers saved my life now," Rose muttered and the Doctor grinned.

"Not if you don't want me to."

"So what are we going to do?" Jack asked after a moment, and a dark shadow fell across the Doctor's face.

"There's only one thing I can do...but I don't want to."

"Why not?" Rose asked.


	9. Chapter 9

**Author Note: Oh jeez, I keep doing this...forgetting to add a note at the beginning thanking you all for your great reviews...**

**Well thanks so much, and I'm glad you're liking it. We're now getting onto the really complicatedly interesting bit (did that make sense?)**

**Well, I hope you enjoy it, and I'm afraid its another cliff hanger ending. So just to recap, the Doctor has said that there is only one thing he can do, but he doesn't want to and Rose has asked why...**

The Doctor looked from Rose to Jack, and back to Rose again. "Because I can't garuantee you'll live."

Jack glared at the Doctor, horrified. He couldn't believe the Doctor would risk it, if it cost that much.

"Do it," came a soft, but firm voice from behind him and they turned as Rose grabbed hold of a near by rail and pulled herself up so that she was facing the Doctor. She had to lean heavily on the rail for support, but at the same time she was frighteningly calm and her actions sent a sudden silence around the room. Even the machinery seemed to quieten down for a moment.

"You don't even know what it is!" the Doctor said incredulously.

"I don't care," Rose replied. Jack was holding her up now, because she didn't have the strength, but the look on her face was one of unquestionable calm and trust.

"I could save your life...or I could kill you," the Doctor admitted quietly, as though he didn't dare want to think about the implications of what he'd just said.

There was a long silence as the Doctor and Rose just looked at each other. Then at last, very quietly, Rose looked the Doctor directly in the eye and said "I trust you. Do it."

The Doctor felt so much admiration for Rose at that moment, and he was well aware that Jack was staring at him, but he didn't care. Rose trusted him with her life. That was the greatest honour anyone had ever bestowed upon him.

Jack looked at Rose, as though he was about to protest, but Rose shook her head, and Jack realised that Rose's word had been final. So he nodded instead and turned to the Doctor.

"Do what you have to. But I wanna be there the whole time!"

"Fine," the Doctor said, and there was a hint of his old, familiarly comforting smile on his worried face.

oOo

Half an hour later, Jack, the Doctor and Rose were all in the TARDIS medical bay. Rose was lying on a medical bed, dressed in a pure white silken gown that Jack had picked out of the TARDIS wardrobe. It had no sleeves, just two thin straps to hold it up, showing clearly the almost healed entry wound of the toxic dart. Rose was staring up at the ceiling, trying desperately to think of something to say to calm Jack's nerves as he held her hand now. The Doctor was over at a work bench, fixing a tray of sterelised tools and items that he would need. He came back a moment later, and Jack stepped back a little to allow the Doctor some room.

"Jack, I'll be fine, I promise!" she said to Jack as she saw his worried face. Then her attention was drawn back to the Doctor, who was holding a rather long and dangerous looking needle, filled with a clear liquid. Rose did her best to hide her fear as he turned to her with a gentle smile.

"This will sting a little. But I promise, if you wake up, it'll all be over."

"You mean 'when' I wake up," she corrected stubbornly. She wasn't going to die, if she could help it. The Doctor smiled encouragingly as he lifted her wrist and inserted the needle. Rose winced at the sting, but it soon faded and she relaxed again. Almost immediately she felt sleepy, but there was one more thing she had to say to the Doctor, so she fought for as long as she could.

"Doctor, If I die -"

"No Rose, don't talk like that."

"But If I do, I want you to know, it wasn't your fault. You tried...and thats all I could have asked for..." Her eyelids began to droop. They were too heavy, but still she fought against it. _Just a little longer. I have to tell him. _"And d'you know what? These past few weeks have been the best of my life."

And then she couldn't hold out any longer. Her eyes closed, and she passed into a deep, drug-induced sleep.

The Doctor paused for a moment and stroked a stray bit of hair away from Rose's eye. Then he seemed to snap into life.

"Right Jack, I'm gonna need your help."

"Right," Jack said. "What do you need me to do?"

"Just hold her arm steady for me."

Jack nodded and obediently took Rose's right arm just below the shoulder, holding it steady. The Doctor winced, muttered "I'm sorry," to Rose, and then sunk the sharp blade into her soft flesh. He drew a neat line, about two inches long, just above the original wound and dabbed at the blood that seeped out of the incission. He could tell the blood was poisoned, because it wasn't the usual crimson colour at all. Infact, Rose's blood was almost black.

The Doctor took a pair of tweezers in one hand, and his sonic screwdriver in the other. He flicked it to a setting and held it just above the cut. Thin white strands of splinters began glowing beneath the skin, and although horrified, Jack found it too fascinating to look away.

"Here, hold this steady," the Doctor said as he handed him the screwdriver. Jack tried, but he couldn't seem to stop shaking. The Doctor seemed to understand, though, because for oncehe didn't snap at him.

"Ok, here goes," he muttered and gently pressed the tweezers inside the wound. A few seconds later he gave a little triumphant cry and pulled out a tiny splinter, dropping it into a metal dish on the tray.

"One down, seven to go," Jack said, as he counted the remaining splinters glowing under the sonic screwdriver's light. It was going to be a long night.


	10. Chapter 10

**Author Note: Hey guys, another cliff hanger ending, I'm sorry...and this chapter isn't the nicest of ones to read...but I saw something a bit like this on TV once, and had to add it in for that extra dramatic effect. If you don't want to read the nasty bit, just skip down to the bottom of the page...it doesn't matter really...**

**So I hope you enjoy!**

"Right, thats the last bit," the Doctor sighed as he dropped the last little splinter into the tray. He wiped a sleeve across his brow, which was beaded with sweat. Jack looked relieved as he stroked Rose's forehead.

The Doctor took the sonic screwdriver, set it to a different setting and placed it at one end of the incission. There was a soft whirring sound as he drew it across the cut. As if by magic, the wound closed with a slight hiss and a little whisp of smoke. There was the smell of burning flesh, but it didn't last for more than a few seconds.

"What did you do?" Jack asked in amazement as he leant forwards to study the wound. It had been neatly sealed together, leaving a slightly burned looking scar.

"I cauterized it," the Doctor replied as he switched the screwdriver off and replaced it in his pocket. "And now for the science bit. Jack can you help me?" he asked, walking over to the desk again. Jack got to his feet and unsteadily staggered over to him. He'd been sitting down for so long his joints had stiffened and were now aching in protest at the sudden movement.

"Right, take this and wrap it as tight as you can round Rose's left wrist," he said, handing him a long, flat bit of material with velcro on one end. Jack obeyed and wrapped it as tightly as he could round Rose's wrist.

"Right, what now Doctor?" he asked after he'd re-joined him with a very large, square piece of machinery that had tubes and pipes sticking out all over the place.

"Attach that to the little clip there... now I've gotta remember how this goes...hang on a minute." And the Doctor began studying the machinery intently, before grinning, and bursting out into a rather silly song.

_"The left wrist's connected to the..thingy._

_The thingy's connected to the...doodah._

_The doodah's connected to the... doohickey,_

_and thats what its all about!"_

"Excuse me?" Jack couldn't help but grin at the Doctor's stupidity. No wonder Rose was always calling him a nutter.

"Shhhhh!" he said, waving a hand at the Captain. Then he attached a few more wires and flicked a switch. The machine whirred into life. He smiled and wrapped a similar velcro bit of material round Rose's other wrist, so that she became, in effect, part of the machine's circuit. The Doctor flicked another switch and the almost black blood began pumping from Rose's left wrist, up the clear tube into the machine, which vibrated and churned. A few minutes later, the blood began pumping down a tube on the other side back into Rose's right wrist, crimson red again.

Again, Jack was horrified, but couldn't look away because it was too fascinating.

However, he flinched when Rose began to move, ever so slightly at first. Just the odd twitch.

But soon she was thrashing about, in obvious pain. The Doctor hated to see her like this, but knew that it was all part of the process. He couldn't do anything to help her until it was all over.

"Come on," he said to Jack. "You look as if you could do with a drink."

oOo

Jack had managed to find a pack of cards which he used to distract himself, but the Doctor couldn't stop pacing. Rose was in pain...terrible pain, and he couldn't do a thing to help her. In the end he slipped silently away from the Captain and ran full pelt back to the medical bay.

Rose was still again now, but there was no denying the look of pain on her pretty face. It was screwed up as though she were just wishing the pain would stop. The Doctor looked at the monitor and saw with relief that she only had to endure another five minutes, then he could stop the pain and let her rest.

He picked up her trainers and looked at the little micro-chip that had been inserted into the tongue. Wondering if he could maybe attach the chip to the machinery to speed up Rose's recovery, he took the trainer over to the work bench and began cutting at the material with a scalpel. But no matter how many times he cut into the lining, the shoe just kept repairing itself.

The Doctor tried at least ten times to cut the same bit of material before giving up. He sat, deep in thought for a moment, then pulled out his sonic screwdriver and set it to stun. Then he aimed it right at the chip. It seemed to be working, so as he held the screwdriver between his teeth, he began cutting at the material again. This time it did work, and soon he had almost cut the chip free.

With a final rip of the material, the chip came free and the Doctor held it up to examine it properly.

Suddenly an alarm sounded and he was by Rose's side in seconds.

"Oh no...no,no,no, don't do this to me! Don't you dare do this to me! Come on Rose! Fight!" he cried as he pulled over a rather old looking machine and began fixing and attaching wires everywhere. Jack was at the door by now, having heard the deafening alarm from the kitchen.

"What's going on?" the Captain cried, and the Doctor looked at him in alarm.

"Rose has stopped breathing!"


	11. Chapter 11

**Author Note: AARGH! I'm late posting...so sorry guys! I've been so busy job hunting I forgot all about Rose, who's life has been hanging in the balance all this time...and the thing is, I still don't know if I'm going to save her yet...after all, I have two endings for this story...and I still can't decide which one to use...but anyway, for the time being...**

**Enjoy!**

"How?" Jack cried as he ran over to Rose.

"I don't know. All I did was remove the chip from her trainer!" the Doctor exclaimed as he gently inserted a tube down Rose's throat and attached it to a rather ancient looking ventilator. With a soft click and a little hiss, the machine started working, and Rose's chest began to rise and fall rhythmically again, even though it was the machine breathing for her.

"Oh, poor Rose!" Jack muttered as he grasped Rose's hand in his own. The Doctor couldn't stand it anymore and marched swiftly from the room. As he closed the door, Jack thought he heard a slight sob.

oOo

The Doctor locked himself in his room, and sat at the end of his bed, his head buried in his hands. What had he done? It was all his fault! He felt something in his pocket, and after wiping away his tears, he pulled out the chip. And then it dawned on him.

He was a part of the TARDIS. If he was hurt, the TARDIS wouldn't work. He guessed the same must have happened with Rose and the trainers. They had tried to mend her when she was hurt, but they weren't powerful enough. However, they had become a part of her, and now that they were broken, so was Rose. He had destroyed the trainer, so it had broken the circuit and caused Rose to slide rapidly downhill. What could he do?

A slight smell distracted him for a moment and he looked up to find the source. It was only a faint smell, and obviously came from another part of the ship, but he knew that smell now.

"BLON!" he realised. She must know an antidote to the poison. She must be able to save Rose, and if it meant that she gained her freedom in the process, so be it. The Doctor was prepared to make that sacrifice. He took the cell key out of his pocket, hesitated as he debated about whether it was the right thing to do, then he set off, leaving the chip on his bed.

oOo

Blon the Slitheen looked up as the Doctor approached her cell. As he opened the door and walked in, closing it behind him, she scooted along on the single bed that the cell provided, making room for him to sit. Up until his arrival, the cell had been dark and full of shadows, but now that he had arrived, it had strangely lit up, light stretching into every corner and shadowed area.

"You're upset," she stated as he went to sit beside her.

"How can you tell?" he asked, although he wasn't really surprised.

"I can smell the fear in you Doctor, just like I could smell the fear in Rose as she slept. That was why I didn't attack her. I was curious to know what could be frightening her so much, even when she slept."

"She's dying. She's dying and it's all my fault. I can't do a thing to help her," The Doctor whispered, once again burying his head in his hands.

"She's been poisoned, hasn't she. By one of my darts?" Blon asked equally as quietly, and her soft tone startled the Doctor.

"Aren't you pleased that you've managed to destroy yet another human life?" he blurted out. He hadn't meant it to sound accusing, and this wasn't the way he had planned to ask for her help, but it had just slipped out.

"Of course I'm not Doctor! She's just a child. I never meant to hurt her. Alright in the past I have wanted to kill her, thats true. But I've changed."

"I know," The Doctor sighed.

There was a long silence, but not an awkward one. Just a silence like two friends wondering what to say next. It was the Doctor who finally broke the silence.

"I shouldn't have put her through it. It was a stupid risk and now its killing her."

"Have you tried any antidotes?" Blon asked thoughtfully.

"I wouldn't know where to begin," the Doctor admitted. 900 years of travel had never taught him how to deal with a situation like this. A tear came to his eye, but he didn't even attempt to hide it as it rolled down his cheek.

"I can help her, Doctor," Blon replied, and the Doctor looked up at her as he wiped the tear from his cheek.

"You would do that?"

"For a price," Blon said with some of her old confidence and slyness.

But this time the Doctor smiled. "I might've known. Alright, name your terms."

"I'll help save Rose if you take me to my family, not my death."

"A life for a life. Is that what you're asking?"

"Yes. Do we have a deal?"

There was another long silence and Blon waited patiently, knowing how difficult it must be for the Doctor to just turn loose a villain he most probably despised more than any other.

"Alright." The Doctor replied at last, after a lot of debating and thinking. "Swear on the blood of your species that you'll help Rose Tyler, and I'll swear on...on Rose's life that if you help her, I will set you free." He didn't want to swear on Rose's life, because aside from the TARDIS, she was the most valuable thing in the world to him, but it gave Blon an incentive to save her. After all, if Rose died, then his promise would become void and wouldn't count.

"Deal," Blon said almost immediately, and she held out her hand with only two claws, the third now just a mess of splinters and green goo.

The Doctor hesitantly put his hand in hers and shook it. Then he looked into her eyes.

"Blon, I might choke before I finish this sentence, but I need you. Help me."

And with that, he got to his feet, strode over, opened the door of her cell and allowed her to follow him back up into the main part of the TARDIS.

oOo

Jack woke in the early hours of the morning to a deathly silence. He squinted in the bright light, stretched and looked around.

There was the Doctor, with Blon Fel Fotch Passamere-Day Slitheen, working together at the table, crushing, chopping and grinding several different ingredients.

He couldn't believe it at first, so he looked over at Rose. She was like an angel, lying there in her pure white silken gown. Any traces of her earlier pain had gone and she now lay perfectly still. Jack noticed the blood purifier unit now sat over to one side, and guessed that it had done it's job. Now Rose was relying on the TARDIS's life support unit to keep her alive.

Her wounds had been dressed with bandages and padding, and Jack couldn't help but feel a little hope as he looked at her. She was a fighter. She always had been...and always would be. She wouldn't let a little thing like this stop her.

He stood up, stretched his aching muscles again and wandered over to the table where Blon and the Doctor were quietly discussing the antidotes.

"There's something missing..." Blon was saying as the Doctor stirred a bowl full of thick green paste. "We need some tree sap...Have you got any?"

"Um...I don't think so," the Doctor thought for a moment.

"Does it matter what kinda tree?" Jack asked and both Blon and the Doctor jumped. Neither had noticed he had joined them.

"Well, not really," Blon replied after she'd recovered.

"Coz Rose has a tree in her room. I seen it the other day," Jack replied and the Doctor's face lit up. "Jabe's cutting that she gave to us in the year 5 billion! I didn't know Rose had kept it! Probably one of the only gifts she did keep!"

"How much do you need?" Jack asked Blon.

"Enough to fill this," she answered, handing him a tiny glass test tube.

"Right, be right back," Jack said as he took the tube and a scalpel and set off for Rose's room. Finally, he was doing something to help Rose. He was so pleased with this thought that he completely forgot to ask why Blon was even out of her cell in the first place.


	12. Chapter 12

**Author Note: Hey guys, sorry I haven't been posting as regularly recently, but I've been working on a new story. Anyways, as it turns out, I could only use one of the two chapters I'd written, for reasons I shall explain at the end. Hope you enjoy this latest chapter!**

Jack returned later with the tube full of amber sap, which the Doctor added to the paste, mixing it vigorously. To one side, a beaker of clear blue liquid was boiling away on a camping stove and every now and then Blon would stir it a few times with a glass rod.

Just as the Doctor had finished mixing the paste, there was a shrill beeping sound. The Doctor and Jack ran to Rose's side and saw that she had minutes to live.

"Her entire body's shutting down and the antidote's not ready!" the Doctor exclaimed. "The liquid's still too hot. It'll burn her."

"Would you rather burn her, or let her die?" Blon asked as she handed the two parts of the antidote to him. It only took a fraction of a second for the Doctor to make his mind up.

He scooped some of the paste onto his finger, then smeared it across Rose's forehead and the wound on her shoulder. He glanced at Blon, who nodded to show that he was doing it right, then she held out the boiling liquid. There was a look of pain on his face as he tilted Rose's head back, opened her mouth and drizzled a little of the contents in.

"No, she needs all of it," Blon said, as she watched over his shoulder, with Jack. The Doctor groaned and reluctantly emptied the rest of the contents into Rose's mouth, then gently closed it and stroked her neck a little to encourage her to swallow.

Then they all waited with baited breath.

Ten seconds passed. No change.

Twenty seconds. Still no change. Jack started to pace about, his hands clasped tightly behind his back.

Thirty seconds. The Doctor was starting to doubt whether he'd ever see Rose open her beautiful brown eyes ever again.

Forty seconds. They were preparing to give in.

Fifty seconds. Even Blon was starting to tap her claws together anxiously.

Then, at last, after one long and painful minute of silence and waiting, Rose swallowed the burning liquid, groaned, gave a huge gasp as though emerging from underwater, and then began coughing and choking. Her eyes snapped open and she sat up, coughing and spluttering.

The sound of her rasping, breathless cough caused Blon to laugh with joy. Then the Doctor and Jack began laughing too, and finally, when she could, Rose laughed aswell. Her eyes were flooded with tears and her throat burned, but she was alive and well.

"Next time, don't do that!" she gasped, causing them all to laugh even harder.

And then, without warning, the Doctor threw himself forwards and almost crushed Rose in the biggest hug Jack had ever seen.

"Whoa! Air! Need air!" Rose cried, and the Doctor released her with a grin. Then Jack leant forwards and hugged her too. He was a little more careful than the Doctor though. And when he stood back, Rose saw Blon, standing there patiently.

She looked wildly from the Doctor to Jack and back again, searching for an explanation as to why there was a murderous alien, who almost killed her, standing beside her bed.

Indeed, Jack looked just as worried and confused now that all the excitement was over and he could think properly again.

So while they listened patiently, the Doctor explained his deal with Blon. He thought Rose would have been angry with him, but she wasn't. Infact, she seemed totally grateful.

_Well, I did save her life, I suppose, _he thought to himself happily.

He was a little reluctant to leave Rose and Blon alone together, but Rose assured him that she would be fine. After all, Blon needed her alive to keep up the deal, so eventually he and Jack left them to it while they went and set a course for Raxacoricofallapatorious.

oOo

At first, Rose felt a little awkward being left alone with the Slitheen. But as she'd assured the Doctor, Blon needed her alive to make sure she was taken home, so there was no danger there. And after all, she'd already been poisoned once. If Blon poisoned her again, the Doctor would know what to do. He would be able to save her again.

With this comforting thought in mind, she turned to Blon, who was holding out a bandage.

"You should dress that wound. Don't want it to get infected," she said and Rose glanced at her shoulder to see the burned scar. She studied it curiously for a few moments, wondering why she couldn't feel pain, and then she nodded and took the bandage, which Blon helped her to wrap round her shoulder and over the wound.

"Thankyou," Rose said after a while, and Blon looked up, startled.

"For what, my dear? For poisoning you? For almost killing you?"

"Well...yeah, thats kind of hard to forgive...but you did save my life. I know the Doctor wouldn't have been able to do it by himself."

"That's true. Well, it was my pleasure. Besides, I needed you alive so that he'd take me home."

"What's it like on Raxacoricofallapatorious?"

"Its been years since I was last there, but it's beautiful...well I think it is anyway. My cousins live there. I believe you and the Doctor have met them before. Dram Fel Fotch and Ectosca Fel Fotch. They were in jail during the Downing Street incident when we first met, so they survived, and then they had to share a room with the Doctor when there was that prison mix-up."

"Don't remind me!" Rose groaned.

"I'm hoping they'll let me live with them," Blon carried on, as though there had been no interuption.

"And what will you do?" Rose asked curiously as she sat up properly and swung her legs over the side of the bed so that they dangled freely.

"I don't know. I would say that I will live a quiet life and not draw any more attention to myself, but you and I both know that that's impossible."

"Not necessarily," Rose said kindly. Then she saw that Blon's broken claw was still all gooey and messy, so she jumped off the bed, paused for a moment to letthe dizzynesssubside, then wandered over to the Doctor's supply cupboard and pulled out another load of bandages.

_She helped me...it's only fair that I return the favour, _she reasoned.

So while Rose awkwardly dressed the claw with one hand (because her other was now in a sling and she still hadn't regained full use of it yet), the two talked about things that Blon could do to keep out of trouble, and how their two home planets differed.

**A/N: Ok, so the reason why I couldn't kill Rose - simple. Way back at the beginning of this story, I said that it was set between Boomtown and Bad Wolf. Rose is in Bad Wolf, so how the hell can she still be in Bad Wolf if I kill her off before then? Mind you...she could be a ghost which could explain how she managed to survive the Time vortex in her head, because if she's dead, she can't die again...oooh, plot bunny! **

**No! Not going down that road! Too complicated!**

**Anyways...1 more chapter to go, and just what have Rose and Blon decided? You'll have to wait and see.**


	13. Chapter 13

**Author Note: Hey guys, sorry it took so long to post again, but I've been really busy lately, car hunting for my very first car. YAY! I can't drive yet, but that's besides the point! lol.**

**Anyways, enjoy!**

"Here we are then, Blon. Your new home!" The Doctor announced brightly as he, Rose and Blon stepped out of the TARDIS onto a soft, spongey planet, just like Blon had described to Rose.

"Thankyou Doctor. I can't tell you how grateful I am," Blon sighed happily.

"Me too. Now you stay out of trouble, alright?"

"Oh don't worry about me Doctor. Rose and I have had a long talk, and we've both agreed on a plan that I intend to stick to from now on."

"Oh yeah, and what's that?" The Doctor asked curiously.

"I'm going to become a sales-slitheen. I'll make hundreds of batches of that antidote and sell it to poor unfortunate beings who happen to have been poisoned."

"Well, I suppose it's better than your previous attempts to make money. At least this time you'll be helping, rather than causing trouble. Good luck with it," the Doctor grinned and held out his hand. Blon shook it and then turned to Rose, who smiled and held out her own hand.

"Bye Rose. Hope you are better soon."

"Bye Blon, and thankyou - again."

They watched as she half jogged over to her cousins, and then they turned and headed back inside the TARDIS. As Rose had expected, Jack was no where in sight, which made her chuckle.

She'd threatened to strangle him with her sling as soon as she didn't need it anymore, because his infuriating singing in the shower kept waking her up every morning. She'd made her threat quite clear, and Jack had obviously taken it quite literally.

"So, you and Blon got on alright then?" The Doctor asked as he went over to the controls and Rose resumed her favourite place by the railings.

"Yeah. And she was serious about that antidote thing too. I convinced her she'd make far more money that way, than if she tried to make and sell energy out of the Earth," Rose replied, feeling chuffed. She'd just saved the Earth from Blon at least...and hopefully any other Slitheen who had the same idea.

Just then, she heard a noise like a cat being strangled and turned to see Jack coming back through to the control room, toweling his hair dry.

"JACK HARKNESS! WHAT DID I TELL YOU!" she yelled and he gave a startled cry, then grinned cheekily. The two started arguing and teasing each other, as the Doctor sent the TARDIS back into the Time Vortex. Then he sat back in his chair and watched as they playfully wound each other up.

"Hey Doc! Tell Rose she's annoying!" Jack called as Rose flicked him on the ear.

"I wouldn't have her any other way!" he called back with his manic grin, and then he was laughing as Jack wrestled Rose (gently) to the floor and began tickling her mercilessly. She shrieked and tried to wriggle out of his grip, but he wouldn't let her go.

_Back to normal then _the Doctor thought contentedly as Rose scrambled back to her feet and legged it after Jack, who had made a hasty retreat and was now heading up towards the wardrobe.

_It won't be long before she's begging to go on another adventure...and knowing her, she'll find even more trouble there..._

But, like he'd told Jack, the Doctor wouldn't have Rose any other way.

END


End file.
